Mr. Pádraig McEvoy:

To answer the other question, one-size-fits-all was mentioned. That is a phrase that is used at European level about the ERDF funding. The Committee of the Regions - Michael Murphy has moved on there - but it registered or submitted a key concern to its environment that the European Union would be drawing back from involving decision-making on that €1 billion worth of funding that we talked about in Ireland that would go back to a central location in the State rather than be participative in the regions.

There is a lot of technical language in the planning policy at strategic level. If it could be summarised, once one goes past a county boundary, there is collaborative gain by two, three or more counties working together to site something or invest in something that is to the mutual benefit of all in a district beyond their own county. The regions create the forum in which that can happen but within the national planning framework. Some people are concerned, and maybe legitimately, that the regions might be overly centralising and aspect. While there is a hierarchy of policy - national, regional, county - in reality once the policy is created, the regions sit at the same level as the local authorities. They simply require decision-making and funding to follow a co-ordinated agreement between the local authorities. By having the local authorities participate in the creation of the policy, there is the equity and possibility for the balanced regional development that Mr. Lynch spoke of. Recent data from the census shows that growth has happened in all the subregions, known as strategic policy areas, SPAs, but the growth has been higher than expected in some and lower in others but then what happens if the funding is not earmarked in a way to deliver on the long-term objectives? Some areas of the country such as Fingal, Limerick, Wicklow, Stillorgan, north Kildare are not keeping pace with school delivery. There are three regional offices doing schools designs but that might not be enough. There is not enough parallel collaborative co-operation in the delivery of that type of infrastructure. I am not suggesting that goes back into the regional assemblies but I am describing having that partnership at the regional level to advocate for the local level, which ensures that those at the central level are not simply solving a small problem but are thinking of everybody.